糖心

Ilan Benattar is a historian of Jewish politics, society, and culture in modern Middle Eastern and North African contexts. His monograph project, 鈥淎 Rod of Punishment鈥�: Ottoman Jewish Liberalism from Opposition to Establishment (1894-1914), offers the first dedicated study of Ottoman Jewish liberals through the colorful and contentious formation of their political tradition.

F&M Teaching

Robert F. & Patricia G. Ross Weis Visiting Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies & History (August 2024-Present)
Courses: Jews in the Modern World; Arab Jewish Identities; Jewish-Muslim Relations; Medieval Jewish History; History of Antisemitism; Palestine/Israel: Modern History

Education

New York University; Manhattan, NY
Joint Ph.D. in History/Hebrew & Judaic Studies (2023)

 New York University; Manhattan, NY
M.Phil in Hebrew and Judaic Studies                                                                  

 CUNY Graduate Center; Manhattan, NY
Master of Arts, Middle Eastern Studies

 Binghamton University; Vestal, NY
Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, History & Arabic Studies

Book

鈥淎 Rod of Punishment鈥�: Ottoman Jewish Liberalism from Opposition to Establishment, 1894-1914 [in preparation]

Academic Publications

鈥溾�楢 New Project of Jewish Colonization in the Sudan鈥�: Ashkenazi Refugees & The Ottoman Jewish Liberal Opposition (1906-1908).鈥� Jewish Quarterly Review 115, no. 1 (2025): 69-98.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

鈥淒avid HaNagid鈥檚 Sefer Pirkei Avot (Alexandria, 1901): Maimonidean Genealogies, Mediterranean Print, & Fin-de-Si猫cle Arab Jewish Class Culture.鈥� From Baghdad to Barcelona: Jewish Experiences in the Mediterranean (Brill, 2027). [Accepted, Forthcoming]

Completed Article Manuscripts

鈥淧ress Censorship and Ottoman Jewish Political Culture in the late Hamidian era (1902-1908)鈥�

鈥�Antimekatregista: A Judeo-Spanish Neologism and the Anti-Musar Idiom of late Ottoman Jewish 尝颈产别谤补濒颈蝉尘.鈥�

Grants & Awards

(2025) Franklin & Marshall Committee on Grants Faculty Research Award

(2021) American Sephardi Federation Broome & Allen Fellowship

(2020) NYU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Torch International Research Fellowship (AY 鈥�20-鈥�21)

(2020) American Academy for Jewish Research Graduate Student Grant

(2018) Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Summer Fellowship鈥擳urkish                 

(2017) Foreign Language Area Scholarship (FLAS) Summer Fellowship鈥擜rabic              

Select Conference Presentations

鈥凌别苍补谤谤补迟颈苍驳 El Plieto of late Ottoman Jerusalem: Sephardic Communal Conflict in a Mediterranean Frame.鈥� Scholarly Workshop in Honor of David Engel. Skirball Department of Hebrew & Judaic Studies. New York University. May 2026.

 鈥淶ionism and Ottoman Jewish Liberals before the Young Turk Revolution (1908).鈥� Zionism in the Middle East & North Africa Workshop. Taub Center for Israel Studies. New York University. February 2026.

鈥�Antimekatregista: A Judeo-Spanish Neologism & the Anti-Musar Idiom of late Ottoman Jewish 尝颈产别谤补濒颈蝉尘.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Washington DC. December 2025.

 鈥淒avid HaNagid鈥檚 Sefer Pirkei Avot (Alexandria, 1901): Maimonidean Genealogies & the Politics of Mediterranean Jewish Print.鈥� Maimonides in Translation Symposium. European Association for Jewish Studies. Virtual. December 2025.

鈥�Antimekatregista: A Judeo-Spanish Political Neologism and late Ottoman Jewish 尝颈产别谤补濒颈蝉尘.鈥� International Workshop 鈥淢odern and Contemporary Jewish Translation and Multilingualism: Practices, History, and Semiotics.鈥� Humboldt Universit盲t zu Berlin. Virtual. July 2025.

鈥淪ocial Conflict over Traditions of Water Impurity in the Fin-de-Si猫cle Jewish Mediterranean.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Virtual. December 2024.

 鈥淛ewish Professionals and Professional Class Culture in Late Ottoman Society (c.1900-1912).鈥� Middle East Studies Association. Virtual. November 2024. 

 鈥淧ress Censorship and the Development of Ottoman Jewish Political Culture.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. San Francisco, CA. December 2023.

 鈥溾�楢 New Project of Jewish Colonization in the Sudan鈥�: Abraham Galante and Ottoman Territorialism.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Boston, MA. December 2022.

 鈥溾�楾hey Know Classical Hebrew, the Talmud, and Nothing Else鈥�: Abraham Galante鈥檚 La Vara and the Contest over Rabbinic Leadership in Late Ottoman Palestine.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Virtual. December 2020.  

 鈥淏etween 鈥楾urkiya鈥� and 鈥楾ogarma鈥�: Thinking Toponyms in Late Ottoman Jewish Thought.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. San Diego, California. December 2019.

 鈥淎braham Galante, Ottoman Jewish Diaspora, and the Opposition to Chief Rabbi Moshe HaLevi (1904-1908).鈥� Formation of Culture in Diaspora Conference. St. Petersburg State University, Russia. September 2019 (Invited).

 鈥�#Right2Left Biblical Translations in Jewish Textual History: Case Studies in Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish.鈥� Presented at #Right2Left Workshop. Digital Humanities Summer Institute. University of Victoria, British Columbia. June 2019.

鈥淢aking a Sephardi Classic, Sephardi: Writing (and Reading) Shevet Yehudah into Ladino.鈥� Presented at ucLadino 8th Annual Judeo-Spanish Symposium. LA, California. February 2019. 

鈥淭oward a Reinvigorated Intellectual Genealogy of Zionism and Middle Eastern Jewry: Bialik鈥檚 鈥楻evival of the Sephardim鈥�.鈥� Presented at Columbia MESAAS Graduate Conference. NY, NY. March 2015.

Conference Panels Chaired

鈥淛ewish Colonial Modernity in Global Perspective.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies. Washington DC. December 2025.

鈥淢izrachi Jews鈥擝oundaries and Identities.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies. Virtual. December 2024.

鈥淶ionist Settler Violence.鈥� Middle East Studies Association. Virtual. November 2024.

鈥淏etween Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew: Texts and Contexts.鈥� Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Boston, MA. December 2022.

Selected Lectures/Events

鈥淎 Conversation with Rachel Cockerell, Author of Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land.鈥� Moderator & Discussant. Jewish Community of Lancaster Alliance. Zoom. November 2nd, 2025.

鈥淚ntroduction and Post-Screening Q&A: Where Are You Going Mosh茅? (2007).鈥� Franklin & Marshall College, Conflict & Conflict Resolution Film Series, 2024-2025. Lancaster, PA. February 2025.

鈥淚nternational Holocaust Remembrance Day Event, Comments + Q&A.鈥� Klehr Center for Jewish Life, Franklin & Marshall College. Lancaster, PA. January 2025.

鈥淭he Origins of Jewish Nationalism in late Nineteenth Century Europe.鈥� University of Illinois-Chicago, HIST278: The Middle East since 1258. Zoom. October 2024.

鈥淎ntisemitism: Historical Roots & Contemporary Trajectories.鈥� Occidental College, Office for Religious & Spiritual Life. LA, CA. November 2022. 

 鈥淪hattered Rhymes: The Life and Poetry of Erez Bitton鈥�. Event Moderator and Discussant. CUNY Graduate Center. NY, NY. February 2015.